The News: Is Vanity Fair?

Curious to discover why such a thing might happen, I read an article on the censorship of Enid Blyton by the BBC. It was rather amusing to note the short sightedness of the controllers of the airwaves and their own personal opinions on the author. I did wonder why this was news. Its hardly current celebrity gossip either. No, despite the disguise as a news article, it was an advert for a program. I was pretty pissed off to be honest.

Where Science and Politics collide

In an era when we’ve become used to Science running the Political landscape, last week’s sacking of the government’s chief drugs advisor was a kick in the teeth for anyone who thought we had entered an era of “rational government”, where science was the true deciding factor on all matters of government policy.

Blog Action Day: The Environment

Its proving rather difficult to work out what to write about with regards to the environment today. I suppose I really ought to, seeing as I signed up for Blog Action Day months ago, and I voted for this very subject to be included. But the environment is a big thing, a powerful force in our lives, but to one extent a very fragile one. For decades, people have been calling on others to “do it for the planet”, but we still manage to make things worse to the extent that Climate Change now threatens humanities very existence.

Transcendence comes of age

Many of you will know that I spend some of my time working on a monthly service called Transcendence in York Minster, a blending of traditional high church worship with modern ambient music, mood lighting and interactive prayer activities. For all its newness, Transcendence is threatening to become routine, or it was until last Sunday.

Could power black outs ever be helpful?

I’ve seen more than one article or comment recently stating loudly and clearly that the problem isn’t solving Climate Change, its solving the power black outs that will become a reality if we continue to use electricity at our current rate. The mind set is one of utter presumption: I must be able to get electricity when I want it! But this cannot continue to be the mind set for much longer…

Are Dog Collars on Vicars outdated?

This is the question that seems to be gripping my workplace at the moment. Its been argued, as I understand it, that its an outdated fashion and that it makes relating to others more difficult and less obvious. But is there more to Dog Collar wearing than meets the eye of today’s fashion critic?

The Age of Entitlement

Casting my mind back to the events of Momentum in August, which you can read about here, I remembered my mental note to explore one area in particular. I wanted to return to Mike P’s three factors preventing today’s young adults getting the most from life: Consumerism, Individualism and Entitlement.  Today I shall point to just one in particular.

Caster Semenya

The story of Caster Semenya seems to continue to grip the sports sections of news channels and papers alike. Her treatment has at times appeared more like a drug scandal, has been made out as a case of racism, and has become a major source of bewilderment and headaches for many, including the governing body of the sport in which she competes.

The Hand Gel Prayer

The last few weeks have seen an explosion in the number of people regularly using alcohol hand gel, so much so that Boots were reporting a national shortage of everything but the most basic 250ml bottles when I needed one before the cycle ride. No where has more comment been passed on the craze than in churches, where bottles are now routinely passed round before the peace, and during communion. So what if we developed some kind of liturgy around them?

Alcohol and Anti-Capitalism

Apologies for the whinge that is approaching. Its been Climate Camp, and I wasn’t there, due to the clash with GreenBelt, and now I’m back, I’ve been trying to catch up on some of the happenings. Sadly, one of the easiest to learn about, given my preferred news sources, is a confrontation between Whitechapel Anarchist Group and many other climate campers.